Place of Ideas

A hub where entrepreneurs, innovation and creativity intersect.

“Progressive” and “forward-thinking” are words typically used to describe Vancouver. Local scientists, engineers, researchers and designers are dreaming up new ideas and concepts that are crossing industry lines. Entrepreneurs are transforming discoveries into valuable products and services. Meanwhile, new approaches are fuelling high-tech industries and bolstering the productivity of traditional industries. So it’s easy to understand why the TED organizing committee chose Vancouver when they decided to look beyond California, or that UN Habitat was conceived at a Vancouver-based conference.

Increasingly, Vancouver is becoming known across the globe as a place that buzzes.

While there are many factors that contribute to harnessing great ideas, Vancouver’s stable business climate, first-class education system and close association with the natural environment are all driving forces behind visionary companies such as D-Wave (quantum computing), General Fusion (development of viable fusion energy) and Aspect Biosystems (3D bioprinting). So too are a strong professional services economy that caters to both local and international needs, and Vancouver’s reputation for exporting expertise in engineering, sustainability, management, financial and technical services to companies and governments the world over.

Vancouver’s startups received a record $3.2bn of investment in 2017

While Vancouver is sometimes viewed as a hub unto itself, this is an outstanding place to be. Here, entrepreneurs and innovators have the space and freedom to truly think “outside the box” in a way they might not do elsewhere. At the same time, the collaborative energy that lives here contributes greatly to helping Vancouver-based businesses push their boundaries, to see what’s around the next corner and on the horizon — the newest ideas and latest innovations.

Increasingly, Vancouver is becoming known across the globe as an exciting place to do business — a place that buzzes. There’s a reason why Vancouver ranked first in Canada and 15th in the world on Startup Genome’s list of the world’s best startup ecosystems, and why companies big and small, established and on-the-rise, are choosing to locate here.

In the words of Microsoft Canada president Janet Kennedy, “…We could have gone anywhere in the world, and we picked Vancouver.”

A city that's itself an inspiration -- cosmopolitan, energetic, innovative, yet with unrivaled natural beauty, surrounded by mountains and water.